Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Cudjo Lewis, transported from Africa around 1860 recounted his capture and passage to America in 1860 and his life in America before and after emancipation. Hurston met with him over several weeks around 1930.  Most of the story is in his words and she wrote them in his dialect exactly as he spoke them.  Publishers would not accept the book unless she used regular language which she refused.

Introduction by Alice Walker

Extensive footnotes and bibliography